SACRAMENTO -- Six months after voters approved new taxes to fund clean energy projects, Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers remain at odds over how to spend the money on improving energy efficiency at public schools and community colleges. Brown, who is scheduled to release his revised budget on Tuesday, is expected to tweak his original plan to distribute the money based on how many students are in each school district. But Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) believes the governor isn't doing enough to ensure the new taxes are spent wisely.

Feeling guilty about overspending this holiday season? Stop. Not only did your role as a consumer help the economy -- though, as a whole, we could have done better and might have if we weren't so freaked about going over the "fiscal cliff" -- but spending money is good for your well-being. Does that mean money actually can buy happiness? Absolutely, reports AsapSCIENCE -- if it's spent the right way. “Instead of buying things for yourself, try giving some of it to other people and see how you feel,” says the narrator in the Dec. 20 AsapScience video.

In a final push before the case goes to jury, an attorney for Michael Jackson's family on Thursday said that entertainment powerhouse AEG cared little about the pop star's career and used him only to make money. In his two-hour-long rebuttal, Brian Panish told jurors that executives for the concert promoter gave misleading testimony during the nearly five-month trial and cared little about the truth. Panish conceded that Jackson bore some responsibility for his death from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol but that jurors should find AEG was 80% at fault and the singer 20%. Jackson died in June 2009 after he was given propofol in his rented Holmby Hills mansion by Dr. Conrad Murray while rehearsing for his 50 comeback concerts in London.

WASHINGTON -- Should Congress use scarce gas tax funds to try to coax states into cracking down on distracted driving? That's the question before the House, which will vote next week on whether to seek to keep $78 million in "legislative candy" out of a new transportation bill. Under the Senate transportation bill, states would receive additional funds if they outlaw texting from behind the wheel, prohibit drivers under age 18 from using cellphones of any kind while driving and take other actions to combat distracted driving.

California taxpayers need to be especially diligent this month or our elected officials may attempt to give away taxpayer money to billionaire football owners. The NFL doesn't want to put a team in the Los Angeles area without having taxpayer money involved because of the precedent it would set. If other cities saw that Los Angeles got a team without spending taxpayer money, the NFL is worried that other cities might refuse to give welfare to them, as well. If any elected representative offers to give the NFL one cent of taxpayer money, every California voter must threaten him or her with recall.

Do you suppose that as people who live in a marketplace-, consumer- and product-driven society, we'll ever figure out that how we get and spend our money is equal in significance to how we vote? BILL COLESON Camarillo